Cultural Citizenship and the Arab-Muslim Immigrant Experience in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of cultural citizenship as it pertains to Arab-Muslim immigrants in post-9/11 America, as depicted in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Through the protagonist Changez’s journey from assimilation to disillusionment, the novel critiques the limitations of multiculturalism and citizenship in addressing the cultural alienation faced by immigrants. By analysing Changez’s experiences of discrimination, identity crisis, and eventual rejection of American values, this paper argues that cultural citizenship offers a framework for understanding the tensions between assimilation and cultural preservation in a post-9/11 world. The study adopted a qualitative interpretative research method since the data involved is textual. The analysis is framed by Aihwa Ong’s theory of cultural citizenship to explore how Hamid’s novel challenges dominant narratives of belonging and exclusion.